04-15-2002, 06:58 AM
In the spring, a very popular and productive way to fish is an afternoon/evening trip. During the afternoon, fishing is done offshore and in the evening inshore for tarpon. Today we left Spinnaker Marina at 2:00 pm. Catching bait was a bit on the difficult side. After checking out several bait spots, we finally found plenty of herring and very quickly caught 3 1/2 dozen. First stop was 275' off Government Cut. Before I could scoop out a second bait from the livewell, the first bait we put out got hit and Fred and Eileen Clark from Ft. Myers were busy catching dolphin. The fish were in the 4-6 pound class and we kept eight of them. Fred put out another live herring on a 15# plug outfit while I was busy rerigging rods and cleaning up the boat a bit. Just as I asked him to reel in so we could reset our drift, he said hold on I've got a bite. The fish moved quickly to the bow of the boat and then took off on a screaming run. About 15 minutes later, I gaffed a large wahoo. We were not able to weigh it, however, it measured 58" long with a girth of 22 1/2". On our next drift, the down rigger bait got hit when we reached 175'. The fish made a long first run, stopped for about 30 seconds and then took off again, all the time diving down. The line parted and when we reeled in, we found a badly frayed section. That bruiser will forever remain a mystery. Time to go tarpon fishing. I saved a few herring just in case the large jack crevalles made an appearance. As if on queue, they did show up and Eileen caught and released a 35 1/2" jack crevalle. On our third drift, I marked some tarpon on the recorder and shortly there after, Eileen was hooked up to a hard fighting 100# tarpon. Twenty five minutes later the fish was released and Eileen had caught her first tarpon. All to quickly, the trip came to an end and Fred is going to have to wait till another time to get his tarpon. Dolphin fillets and wahoo steaks will be shared with other family members and friends and Eileen will be back with her friends in 3 weeks looking for her first wahoo.<br><br>Captain Dave Kostyo<br>Knot Nancy Fishing Charters<br>305 620-5896 Charter<br>305 732-2628 Beeper<br>www.rnfl.com/knotnancy<br>nkostyo@bellsouth.net<br><br>